A new Australian Register of Clinical Registries has been announced to facilitate better collaboration and awareness of registry activity across Australia. The national landscape for clinical quality registries (CQRs) is undergoing significant change as their value is being increasingly recognised and health information technology continues to develop.
There is enormous potential for CQRs to inform care delivery at the patient, clinician, local, national and international levels. Each component of the collected data contributes to improved understanding of the benefit and cost-effectiveness of treatment and care from the perspectives of the patient, clinician, health service provider, health insurer and government.
This register will be run by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission), and will collect data that includes: processes of care, health outcomes, patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and health system costs.
To date, clinical registries have evolved via a ‘bottom-up’ approach, as clinician-led research initiatives to identify issues and improve outcomes in specific clinical areas. A number of registry initiatives have evolved to become a CQR. Recent attempts to identify the number of clinical registries and CQRs in Australia suggest that there are 65 in operation. The level of maturity of these registries, including their patient population and level of integration into existing health data systems, remains unclear. Of these registries, 46 fall within the prioritised clinical domains identified by the Commission for national CQR development.
Enquiries on the register may be sent to CQR@safetyandquality.gov.au.